cucumber

All posts tagged cucumber

The past few years we saw an increase in the popularity of adding fruit slices to water that is supposedly turns the water into detox water. I will not dwell on that topic, the detox part I mean, because I’m not an expert about detox, but what I know is adding slices of fruit to water gives it an extra yang energy that helps makes our day slightly better.

Carrying a bottled water offers no significant Feng Shui effect, however, putting some fruits into it makes a difference, because that is a way where we can fruits with us with out in undergoing a fast oxidation process. Regular readers of this blog all knows that fruits have different Feng Shui implications, and eating them or drinking their essence also provides almost the same kind of essence.

So for example, you find yourself a victim of office politics, putting slices of lemon or lime or calamansi on your water will help avert this kind of negative energies. If you find yourself having a chaotic relationship with your officemate putting slice of apple or strawberries in your water will also help stop this energy.

And if you need some healing, use cucumber!

So next time you need some Feng Shui cure but can’t bring the whole fruit to your office, be hip and bring a bottle of water with slices of fruits. Your officemate will simply think that you are drinking detox water.

People who know me personally know that I’m currently trying to lose weight. After losing about 40 pounds in a year’s time, I now find it hard to shed the rest of the weight that I need to lose, especially; my metabolism is sort of slow. The fight against the bulge is a constant battle, and one needs to come up with different ways of fight the bulge because our body get used to what we eat and do and sort of creates a certain ‘relax’ mode that makes the fight a little slower.

In my new quest to lose weight, I found out that there is such a thing as a negative calorie food; basically, these are foods that have a low calorie index and will take out more calories for us to digest them. Scientists are divided with regards to this belief, some say it’s impossible and say its true. However, if you look at the arguments of both sides, regardless whether ‘negative calorie’ theory is true or not, one thing is certain, these are foods that has low calorie index. Meaning, you may eat a lot and there’s a low chance that you’ll get fat from a ‘negative calorie’ food. Furthermore, most of these foods included in the list of ‘negative calorie foods’ are high in fiber and will tend to make us feel full longer. A lot of them are also high in nutrients.

Allow me to share the top fifteen ‘negative calorie’ foods.

CELERY. This is the best of all negative calorie foods because it is high in fiber and essential nutrients. Plus, you need to eat about 1.5 kilos of celery before you get 200 calories out of it, so it’s really a low calorie food.

ORANGES. Is another negative calorie food. Furthermore, it’s high in vitamin C.

STRAWBERRY. Another fruit on the list is the beautiful and very delicious strawberry, this is one of my favorite fruits. However, strawberries are considered one of the ‘dirtiest’ fruit in terms of the amount of pesticide it gets before it reaches us. Here in the Philippines, it is almost if not totally impossible to get organic strawberries.

KIWI. A fruit that I also really love is kiwi and I’m lucky enough for it to be included in the negative calorie list. On top of that, a kiwi has one of the highest amount of vitamin C.

GRAPEFRUIT. I never really liked grapefruit, but I’ll try to eat more of this fruit because other than being a negative calorie fruit it’s also high in essential nutrients and anti-oxidants.

CARROTS. Need I say more? We all know the benefits of eating a carrot, we’ve been told about this by our parents and teachers.

APRICOT. They look like peaches but not as delicious, at least, for me. However, here in the Philippines, it is very rare that we have fresh apricots, and take note, dried ones are not as good.

LETTUCE. I really don’t know whether we can cook a lettuce or what’s the best way of cooking it. However, it’s one of the most common vegetable you’ll find in a salad. But again be careful with the kind of dressing that you use. It’s just sad that my favorite vegetable Arugula is not in the list of top fifteen negative calorie foods.

TOMATOES. What’s so nice about tomatoes is that one can eat it raw, but they say if you want to benefit from lycopene you must cook it. By the way, a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable.

CUCUMBER. A cucumber has a very high water content, therefore it will easily make you feel full.

WATERMELON. I love a really cold watermelon, but they say it has no nutritional content.

CAULIFLOWERS. One of the best way of eating a cauliflower is simply to blanch it and then dip it in a non-fat salad dressing.

APPLE. Even before I found out that an apple is a negative calorie food, I’ve started eating it whenever I’m craving for food. I believe that it has help me in my weight loss. However, apples are also one of the dirtiest fruits in terms of pesticide use on them. In fact, the saying an apple a day keeps the doctor away is no longer true.

ZUCCHINI. Not my favorite.

HOT CHILI PEPPER. Okay, I don’t know why this is in the list, it’s not like we eat like we eat the other foods in the list. However, aside from being a negative calorie food, a chili also has a certain property that aids in weight loss.

Also add in the list are most green leafy vegetables, however, it should be noted that some say for them to be truly negative calorie they should be eaten raw. It’s not a problem with the fruits, but with some of the vegetables, eating them raw tends to make it bland, so be careful with the dressing if you’re making a salad out of it. Nevertheless, some say they’re negative calorie regardless whether they are raw or cooked, but you have to be careful with the other ingredients if you decided to cook them, because they will add calorie to the negative calorie food.